Book Description

This first of Burns’s definitive and award-winning two-volume biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, mapping the personal and professional development of one of America’s most brilliant politicians

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving president in US history, reshaping the country during the crises of the Depression and World War II. But before his unprecedented run as president, there were decades of steady consolidation of power. Here, renowned historian James MacGregor Burns traces Roosevelt’s rise and the peculiar blend of strength and cunning that helped make him such a uniquely transformative politician. Weaving together lively narrative and impressive scholarship, The Lion and the Fox is among the first—and most acclaimed—studies of Roosevelt’s time, his talents, and his flaws.

This first of Burns’s definitive and award-winning two-volume biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, mapping the personal and professional development of one of America’s most brilliant politicians

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving president in US history, reshaping the country during the crises of the Depression and World War II. But before his unprecedented run as president, there were decades of steady consolidation of power. Here, renowned historian James MacGregor Burns traces Roosevelt’s rise and the peculiar blend of strength and cunning that helped make him such a uniquely transformative politician. Weaving together lively narrative and impressive scholarship, The Lion and the Fox is among the first—and most acclaimed—studies of Roosevelt’s time, his talents, and his flaws.

About the Author

James MacGregor Burns (b. 1918) is a bestselling American historian and political scientist whose work has earned both the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Born in Boston, Burns fell in love with politics and history at an early age. He earned his BA at Williams College, where he returned to teach history and political science after obtaining his PhD at Harvard and serving in World War II. Burns’s two-volume biography of Franklin Roosevelt is considered the definitive examination of the politician’s rise to power, and his groundbreaking writing on the subject of political leadership has influenced scholars for decades. He currently serves as the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the University of Maryland.

I recently had occasion to re-read James MacGregor Burns's marvelous Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox and was deeply impressed by how well its has withstood the test of time. The early paperback edition of this book, which was originally published in 1956 and covers the period from 1882 until 1940, characterized it as the "first political biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt," and it continues to be the authoritative study of Roosevelt's preparation for and then conduct of his first two terms as president, when domestic affairs demanded most of his attention. This remains a wonderful book about this country's greatest politician of the 20th century, and it also offers many penetrating insights into the American political system.Burns's treatment of Roosevelt is comprehensive, "[treating] much of [Roosevelt's] personal as well as his public life, because a great politician's career remorselessly sucks everything into its vortex." Roosevelt was the only child of a member of the upstate New York landed gentry, and he could have led a life of leisure. Instead, he was sent to Groton School in Massachusetts, where the headmaster, according to Burns, "made much of his eagerness to educate his boys for political leadership." Roosevelt completed his formal education at Harvard College and Columbia University Law School. Burns writes that Roosevelt's first elective office, as a New York State Senator was a "political education," and he became a "Young Lion" in Albany. Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in Washington, D.C., during World War I and was the candidate for Vice President on the Democrat Party's unsuccessful ticket in 1920. In 1921, Roosevelt was stricken with polio, and the crippling disease would have ended the public career of a less ambitious and determined man. Instead, he continued to work hard at politics, was elected Governor of New York in 1928 and then President in 1932. This was just the beginning of a remarkable career in high office.Burns makes clear that Roosevelt was a progressive in the tradition of Woodrow Wilson but was without strong ideas or a specific agenda. According to Burns: "The presidency, Roosevelt said shortly after his election, `is preeminently a place of moral leadership.'" Retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes offered this cutting assessment: "A second -class intellect, but a first-class temperament." Action to combat the depression was necessary to restore public confidence in government, and the first Hundred Days of Roosevelt's first term was one of the great periods of legislative achievement in American history. Burns writes: "Roosevelt was following no master program." However, in Burns's view: "The classic test of greatness in the White House has been the chief executive's capacity to lead Congress." According to that test, Roosevelt was a great president. Burns writes that, "[i]n his first two years in office Roosevelt achieved to a remarkable degree the exalted position of being President of all the people." Burns explains: "A remarkable aspect of the New Deal was the sweep and variety of the groups it helped."As early as 1934, however, organized conservative opposition to the New Deal was forming. (A newspaper cartoon reprinted here shows a figure identified as the Republican Party holding a sign stating: "Roosevelt is a Red!") Roosevelt was increasingly attacked as a traitor to his class, but a large measure of his genius was his ability to hold the more extreme elements of the New Deal in check. Roosevelt's political skills were tested in every way. For instance, Burns writes that Senator Robert Wagner's National Labor Relations Act, which proposed to"[vest] massive economic and political power in organized labor" "was the most radical legislation passed during the New Deal." According to Burns, Roosevelt's initial reaction to the bill was "invariably cool or evasive," and the president, with what Burns describes as "typical Rooseveltian agility," announced his support for the bill only after its passage was certain. Burns demonstrates that Roosevelt's support, both in Congress and among the public, gradually eroded in the late 1930s, but he was, of course, elected again in 1940 and 1944. Roosevelt's nomination in 1940 was especially skillful. Many in his own party favored maintaining the tradition of limiting presidents to two terms, and Democratic Party leaders lined up in the hope of succeeding Roosevelt. Roosevelt outfoxed all of them and was elected to his historic third term.I believe it is fair to say that Burns admires Roosevelt, but this book is not a whitewash. Burns candidly writes about Roosevelt's "deviousness." And the author is appropriately critical of Roosevelt's attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court following his overwhelming re-election in 1936. However, in my opinion, these instances simply are proof of the truism that great men are not always good men. Burns took the subtitle of this book from the Italian Renaissance political philosopher Machiavelli's dictum that a political leader must be strong like a lion and shrewd like a fox. Franklin D. Roosevelt was both, and that made him a great president. This is a great political biography of that great presidentRead more ›

Gives a fantastic account of FDR from his privileged childhood and days at Groton, to his harsh induction into the world of politics; the skill at which he maneuvered the political currents to the New York Capital in Albany, and ultimately the White House. Once there Burns gives an account of passionate dedication to the American people, both during the Depression and WWII, that most likely was not seen since Lincoln. A must for anyone's Presidential Biographical collection.

FDR was perhaps the craftiest politician to occupy the White House since Lincoln. The Title, "...Lion and the Fox" is an allusion to Machiavelli's dictum that one must be stouthearted like a lion and crafty like a fox. FDR combined these qualities to achieve political mastery of his time.This book focus on his life up to the start of WWII. It paints a thorough life portrait of the president and illustrates the events and experiences that shaped this master politician. Although enjoying congressional majorities like no other president (that certainly aided the implementation of his program), FDR had to over come the reluctance of both GOP and Democrat conservatives to rework the federal government into the active economic and social player it is today. McGreggor's book explains how FDR the man made the New Deal possible.This is a well written book that gives evidence of being thoroughly researched. For anyone interested in presidential history, I'd recommend this book.

This is the best account of pre-WWII FDR that has beenwritten. Burns combines established facts with a commentarythat examines the 32nd President's possible psychological views on issues. From major decisions during the New Deal to relationships with Eleanor and staff members, Burns paints an objective picture of FDR. The picture is neither rosy nor clouded, but is an intimate portrait of the longest- serving President in American history.

Now in his nineties, the eminent historian James MacGregor Burns devoted much of his career to the study of leadership, and how leaders interacted with others to persuade them to follow in their direction. While Burns was personally an unabashed admirer of Franklin Roosevelt and voted for him four times, The Lion and the Fox, the first of a two-volume work, is not a slavish devotional. Hardly showing any bias, Burns wrote the book as a true academic study of FDR 'S life through his first two presidential terms. Another historian, the octogenarian Paul Johnson, hardly an admirer of the New Deal, called Burns Roosevelt's best biographer. He may well be right.

Roosevelt had strengths and weaknesses. He believed in little except Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the idea that he was elected to do something, anything, to alleviate the Depression. He was not analytical, preferring to learn by discussion. He knew nothing about economics. He thought government was ripe for experimentation, never caring about the potential nuances of the law he executed. He did what he had to do to gain support, never committing to anything until he gathered sufficient backing for this program or that. On the surface, and to the public, he appeared affable, but had a mean streak. He was upper class, but appealed to all sorts of people through his ability to communicate.

This is not the book for analysis of New Deal policies or their effects. Burns is uninterested in the subject of what those policies accomplished, or how they failed, which they essentially did. What matters to the author is how Roosevelt could get liberals and sometimes, old line Democrat conservatives to follow his lead, how he interacted with them. He even backed Republicans for office in the 1934 off-year election if they were of help. Mostly, Roosevelt specialized in not committing to anything until he knew he held enough cards.His great miscalculation, and the longest subject of the book, is his failed court-packing scheme of 1937.He jumped into that mess without looking both ways, rare for such a smart politician.

There is not much foreign policy discussed here, although again, Roosevelt remained true to form, never showing his hand unless absolutely required. He stayed publicly neutral for a long time because the country was neutral, with an isolationist strain. Not realizing at the time apparently that he would plunge into a second Roosevelt volume, Burns wrote a short section on Roosevelt as war leader, a mere overview that does not enlighten.

Roosevelt's policies were failures during his first two terms, but that is of little consequence when you put them aside and emphasize his leadership skills. On that score certainly, he was a firm success. The consequences of just where he led is for others to debate.Read more ›